In fact, Ellenberger said, it was quite difficult to put aside his compassion for Shields, whose father passed away just three weeks prior to Saturday's UFC Fight Night 25 meeting.

But Ellenberger did exactly that, netting his fifth-consecutive UFC win. Now the 26-year-old has his sights set on the top of the division and is confident he could provide a stern test for the winner of an upcoming UFC 137 title fight between current champion Georges St-Pierre and top contender Carlos Condit.

"I think I match-up well with Carlos and GSP," Ellenberger said following Saturday's event, which took place at New Orleans' Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. "I've gotten a lot better since [Condit and I] fought."

It's too early to start calling Ellenberger as the next title contender. I've been looking around the mainstream news sites and most of the fans are doing what they always do after a dominant victory, jump the bandwagon and start calling that fighter the one to dethrone the champion. I like Ellenberger, and he's one of the more dangerous fighters in the Welterweight division, but I don't think fans should be calling him for a title shot just yet. Yeah, his beat down against Shields was impressive, but let's not forget that this isn't Shield's natural weight class, and since moving down to Welterweight he's looked mediocre at best, and the rest of Ellenberger's wins have been against middle of the pack opponents. Let's see how he does against someone like Fitch, Penn, or Diaz before we start shouting about title shots.

It's too early to start calling Ellenberger as the next title contender. I've been looking around the mainstream news sites and most of the fans are doing what they always do after a dominant victory, jump the bandwagon and start calling that fighter the one to dethrone the champion. I like Ellenberger, and he's one of the more dangerous fighters in the Welterweight division, but I don't think fans should be calling him for a title shot just yet. Yeah, his beat down against Shields was impressive, but let's not forget that this isn't Shield's natural weight class, and since moving down to Welterweight he's looked mediocre at best, and the rest of Ellenberger's wins have been against middle of the pack opponents. Let's see how he does against someone like Fitch, Penn, or Diaz before we start shouting about title shots.

You will retract because there are VERY few who can deal with Ellenbergers power and his wrestling looks like the ****. Very quality performance.

Wait a couple fights.

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-Ellenberger's 53-second TKO of Shields was the fastest main-event finish at a UFC event since UFC Fight Night 9 on April 5th, 2007, when Joe Stevenson submitted Melvin Guillard in 27 seconds with a guillotine.

-Before last night, Shields hadn't been stopped by TKO since March 25th, 2000, when Marty Armendarez stopped him in his third pro fight.

I kept telling people the night of the fight that I love Jake Shields, and I have him picked to win, but that I didn't really believe that he would because, stylistically Ellenberger was a very bad match up for him because he is a big powerful wrestler with very heavy hands. After watching that fight it kinda helped prove my point even if i am only proving it to myself, which earns me nothing but pat on the back to acknowledge myself as an omniscient being. My awesomeness aside, I believe that fight should hopefully be a sign to Shields that, as a few of you have already mentioned, Shields belongs at MW. It is there that he looks most like himself, and it is there that his skill set allows for the most success. His skill set translates very well against many of the other guys at that weight, and as I have said in a post way back when the fight between GSP and Shields was relatively fresh news, I think that honestly Shields has a better chance of beating Silva than GSP does because of the nature of his skill set. GSP is well rounded, but I couldn't see him beating Silva by submission or knockout, and he wouldn't win a striking match against him. IMO the only way GSP wins that fight is 25 minutes of LnP tactics, where as Shields is a viable threat on the ground, though Shields stands far less of a chance in the striking department.

Also, if Shields was at MW we could finally see the rematch to one of the better fights I've seen in recent years in the sequel to the exciting grappling clinic put on by Mayhem and Shields a couple years back. Plus how could anyone disagree with a match between Shields and Maia, or Shields and Jacare?